For the past 30 years, Leslie Hurtig has occupied various positions within the Canadian literary landscape. She has served as a sales representative, publicist, rights manager, and book buyer for some of North America’s leading publishers and bookstores. In addition to curating year-round and Festival events at Vancouver Writers Fest, Leslie regularly moderates literary events, acts as a juror for a number of prizes, and guest lectures on publishing and literary festivals at Simon Fraser University. Additionally, Leslie sits on the board of the Canadian Association of Literary Festivals and contributes to the organizing committee of The Global Association of Literary Festivals.
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Which ‘hood are you in?
The Vancouver Writers Fest is located on Granville Island. I’m very lucky to get to walk to work along the seawall each morning.
What do you do?
I co-lead the Vancouver Writers Fest, a literary arts presentation organization that programs year-round events featuring thought-provoking dialogue between writers, storytellers and journalists. I am responsible for curating these events and helping the organization to connect with readers, writers and the community.
What are you currently working on?
Our flagship Festival will feature over 115 authors from around the world and across Canada. We’ve produced a beautiful program of events and are now in the process of making sure our authors know which events they are in, and making sure the public knows that tickets are on sale. We want to fill all 85 of our venues with book-loving individuals who crave smart dialogue and connection to this community.
Where can we find your work?
The festival will run from October 16-22 on Granville Island and various other locations in Vancouver. All of our events are listed on our website. In addition to our week-long Festival, we also have various Special Events to choose from, including those featuring Zadie Smith, Brent Butt, Rick Mercer, Jan Arden and Kent Monkman. All details can be found on our website!
